High ceilings, open areas, and light colors help to foster creativity. Lower ceilings, tighter areas, and darker colors help with focusing in on detail-oriented tasks.
So is this why I usually am the most inspired and creative in the morning when the early light is in my office, and I am more productive at getting those ideas hammered out into something written during the evenings when it’s just the desk lamp providing light? And is this why we get outside when we just need to think, and we burn the midnight oil on that project because that’s when we’re finally in the zone to get things done?
Also, I’m curious if a similar study has been done regarding music and background noise and which types foster creativity and which types help with doing focused, detail-oriented work. This article about working at coffee shops because they’re “just enough distraction” is somewhat along that vein, but not quite.